“It was a pretty serious crash. I had 10 days off the bike, so it was a pretty long stint of not training,” Yates said at the Tour of California’s pre-race press conference. “Things are coming together, and I’m excited to be here. But we’ll have to see out on the road how I am. Hopefully, the fitness is good and we can try to win some stages. Realistically, I’d like to be top 10 here.’

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He is currently placed third overall at the Tour of California, having taken third place on stage 2 from Ventura to the summit finish at Gibraltar Road on Monday. Despite being unable to match the attack of Team Sky’s Egan Bernal, who won the stage, and having lost out on second place to Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) by just a few seconds, Adam Yates was pleased with his progression since his crash. He is hoping to improve further in the coming days.

“It wasn’t that hard today to be honest,” he said in a team press release. “It was quite windy on the coast, but until the final climb the pace was pretty steady, and the guys kept me well protected until the road started to rise, and from there I was on own.

“I feel pretty good, and I’m happy with how it went. It’s my first race back and I did as well as can be expected with my recovery. The guys that beat me were stronger than me today, but I’m on the right track.”